“We didn’t want to die”: the Russian wife of a Palestinian spoke about fear and hatred

There are many Russian-speaking women in Palestine, but finding them in the burning hell that the land common to Israel and Palestine has become is not so easy. And those who get in touch cry and hurl curses at the enemy. Adalat from Bethlehem, where it is still relatively calm, is the only one who was able to say something other than what is coming out of the lips of everyone in the conflict zone: “Someone stop this, we don’t want to die!”

Adalat speaks Russian, studied at a Russian school, but, strictly speaking, she is not Russian, but a native of Soviet Turkmenistan. Adalat left the Central Asian republic within the USSR with her parents back in the late 70s of the last century, as a child.

“We moved not to Israel, but to Palestine,” Adalat emphasizes. “My older sister married a student from Palestine who studied at a teacher training university in our hometown, and he took her to live with him. Then my mother and father gathered, and me and my two younger brothers were also taken away.

It was in 1978, I was 8, and my brothers were even younger. So I actually grew up here, but I haven’t forgotten Russian, because we speak Russian among ourselves in the family. Both at home in Turkmenistan and here.

– Did you immediately settle in the Palestinian part?

– We first began to live in East Jerusalem, where my sister lived with her Palestinian husband and his family. Then everyone existed there together: a Palestinian street, and an Israeli one around the corner. I remember that we lived together together. The Palestinians discussed among themselves that it would be more profitable to keep a shop on a Jewish street. And Palestinian children were taken to Israeli music teachers. In 1980, we moved to Bethlehem, which is only 10 km from Jerusalem, but is considered Palestinian autonomy.

– Are there any Israelis in Bethlehem?

– Oh, Bethlehem has everything! Not only Muslim Arabs and Jewish Israelis, but also Christian Arabs and Muslim Jews. Both Afro-Palestinians and Russian Palestinians. Although there are only about 30 thousand of us, the city is not just touristic, it is biblical. All Bethlehem residents, no matter who they are, are fed by pilgrims and tourists.

Bethlehem, known as the birthplace of Christ, was transferred to full Palestinian control only in 1995. According to its residents, this did not in any way affect the situation in the holy city: those who already lived there remained, regardless of citizenship, nationality and religion.

“I know that you are delicately leading to the question of how we are being killed,” Adalat declares. – You’re not calling to find out about the history of Bethlehem.

I’ll tell you this. My husband, he is a Palestinian, a Muslim, from an ancient Palestinian family, works in a “Palestinian taxi”. This is the name given to taxis with Palestinian license plates that also serve Israeli territories. Jews are very fond of Palestinian taxis, as they are several times cheaper than Israeli ones.

My husband, no matter how much he works, has never encountered someone in the Israeli part getting into his taxi and starting to curse him. And it would never have occurred to him to pick up an Israeli passenger and start telling him on the way to get out of Palestine, since this is their ancient land, and Israel has nothing to do with it. That is, none of this happened in everyday life.

Not all Palestinians approve of Hamas and its actions, especially in Gaza. Gaza is home mainly to descendants of refugees from Israeli territories during the Arab-Israeli war half a century ago. These families know what it’s like to be homeless and don’t want a repeat. But we already received it.

They have no weapons, almost no shelters, except makeshift ones. They don’t want to kill or die. They have been living “under the hood” for 75 years – under the close supervision of Israel and the United States, but with fewer rights.

Do you know that even the water supply in the Palestinian part of Jerusalem is not the same as in the Israeli part? And this is not because the Palestinians are “idlers” and were unable to install normal water supply in their country, this is an initiative from the other side. All the best for the Israelis, and the rest according to the residual principle. But many would live like this further, if only they would not ruin this life.

– Will you run?

– Those who have money are trying to fly to Europe. And Syrian, Libyan, Iraqi and Afghan refugees are already waiting for them there in overcrowded camps. Iran is ready to accept, but my family will not go there; they still support the fundamentalist background of this massacre. They called me from the Turkmenistan embassy, ​​I even burst into tears. Out of surprise and gratitude. Offered asylum. I’m very grateful, but we won’t go anywhere for now.

– Aren’t you scared?

– Scary. Do you know what’s the worst thing? Today we left the house for kudayi (funeral dinner – Auth.), they mourned the death of Sirin al-Attar, a Palestinian woman doctor, who was killed this night in the Bureij area along with her daughter.

And suddenly our neighbor comes, I didn’t even recognize him right away. Just a few days ago there was a kind young guy, a school teacher. His son was recently born, he walked around so happy! Children both at school and on the street from neighbors adore him. And here he was all white, his eyes were red, he was hunched over like an old man. He came up silently and suddenly started banging his head against the wall of his house, shouting that he hated Israel.

It turned out that his young wife and newborn son were killed; they were visiting relatives in Gaza. This Palestinian probably has nothing but hatred for his closest neighbors for generations to come. But I feel sorry for all the children – both my own and the Israeli ones. Why did we bring them to such a terrible world?

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